In the network management field, a number of platforms and tools exist to allow a systems administrator to manage the attachment and integration of new or existing machines into a managed network. One class of available tools makes use of the preboot execution environment (PXE) standard, originally established by Intel Corp. and Systemsoft Corp., according to which network-connected machines can be booted via a network interface alone, regardless of attached storage or installed operating systems.
The use of PXE-based network management tools can be constrained, however, by the types of target machines attempting to boot into the network. The PXE-based network management tools are generally configured to communicate with and manage personal-computer class machines, such as machines running Intel Corp. processors, as well as distributions of the Linux™ operating system and/or Windows™ family of operating systems available form Microsoft Corp., in part because machines configured with that class of hardware and software are readily configured for operation on a local area network (LAN), or other network.
Today network management tools which perform operations in the pre-boot environment are incapable of integrating other categories or types of machines or resources into their management activity. In particular, existing network management platforms fail to address pre-boot management of mainframe-based target machines, such as virtual machines instantiated and managed under the VM™ (Virtual Machine) family of operating environments provided by IBM Corp., and others It may be desirable to provide methods and systems capable of integrating mainframe-based virtual machines and other resources into a pre-boot execution environment managed by network management tools.